What Does Your Blood Type Say About You?

A Japanese minister has resigned, saying that his blood type accounted for his failings. According to Japanese belief, what might yours mean? John Crace asks in the Guardian:

It came away in my hands. The dog ate it. Honest. When Ryu Matsumoto, Japan’s minister for reconstruction, resigned after just a week in the job, one of the excuses he offered was almost as lame. He said he had the wrong blood type — B — which made him a more abrasive personality and accounted for his less-than-tactful remarks about some areas of Japan badly affected by the earthquake and tsunami earlier this year.

Most people in the UK haven’t a clue what blood type and aren’t much bothered either way. But in Japan there is a widely held belief that blood groups can predict personality, temperament and compatibility with other people; so much so that many newspapers, magazines and TV shows carry daily blood horoscopes.

The idea took hold in the 1920s, when Japanese doctors were looking for proof that the Taiwanese were racially inferior and found that 41.2% of them had type O blood compared with only 23.8% of the Japanese. Even though this theory was discredited in the 1930s, its influence still lingers in popular culture …

type o negative! Who needs a transfusion? then my blood can take over your body and turn you into my zombie.

vampire liar

type o negative! Who needs a transfusion? then my blood can take over your body and turn you into my zombie.

Anonymous

It says absolutely nothing. It’s just another ancient belief that’s revered despite having no evidence of any correlation beyond cultural belief. I’m sorry but I don’t believe that I have to balance out my humors or check with phrenology before I look for hard evidence based on real science.

SF2K01

It says absolutely nothing. It’s just another ancient belief that’s revered despite having no evidence of any correlation beyond cultural belief. I’m sorry but I don’t believe that I have to balance out my humors or check with phrenology before I look for hard evidence based on real science.

http://hormeticminds.blogspot.com/ Chaorder Gradient

Just to play devils advocate, and not to justify his claims, there have been studies showing a relation between attraction and blood type. I dont remember the details but it had something to do with women smelling he sweat of guys with various blood types, and being explained by pheremones. I’d expect the old cultural beliefs are initiated by subtle things like this, then get blown out of proportion over time in the kinda stuff that this guy believes (or says he believes).

Jbar

I read in one of the linked articles that my type (O) is ideal for sport.

Ha, ha… I don’t even like watching sports, never mind being good at them.

SF2K01

I’m not certain if that was ever the case. I don’t know the specific incident you’re speaking of but generally beliefs like these stem from some cultural conception that later is painted on to something to make very loose connections seem firm. I was a bit mistaken in labeling this an ancient belief, as it’s not really very ancient, it barely goes back a hundred years, but it stems from outdated understandings of the science which each culture has their own “prediction” methods. It’s barely any better than horoscopes, and just as accurate.

“The idea took hold in the 1920s, when Japanese doctors were looking for
proof that the Taiwanese were racially inferior and found that 41.2%
of them had type O blood compared with only 23.8% of the Japanese.”

See, the idea of “dirty blood” is promulgated by racists and vampires, it has no bearing in science.

DeepCough

“The idea took hold in the 1920s, when Japanese doctors were looking for
proof that the Taiwanese were racially inferior and found that 41.2%
of them had type O blood compared with only 23.8% of the Japanese.”

See, the idea of “dirty blood” is promulgated by racists and vampires, it has no bearing in science.

Jbar

I’m sure Draco Malfoy would disagree… he wasn’t a fan of mudbloods, as I recall.

Just to play devils advocate, and not to justify his claims, there have been studies showing a relation between attraction and blood type. I dont remember the details but it had something to do with women smelling he sweat of guys with various blood types, and being explained by pheremones. I’d expect the old cultural beliefs are initiated by subtle things like this, then get blown out of proportion over time in the kinda stuff that this guy believes (or says he believes).

Jbar

My guess is that Matsumoto is just a dick.

Jbar

My guess is that Matsumoto is just a dick.

Jbar

I’m sure Draco Malfoy would disagree… he wasn’t a fan of mudbloods, as I recall.

Jbar

I read in one of the linked articles that my type (O) is ideal for sport.

Ha, ha… I don’t even like watching sports, never mind being good at them.

I’m not certain if that was ever the case. I don’t know the specific incident you’re speaking of but generally beliefs like these stem from some cultural conception that later is painted on to something to make very loose connections seem firm. I was a bit mistaken in labeling this an ancient belief, as it’s not really very ancient, it barely goes back a hundred years, but it stems from outdated understandings of the science which each culture has their own “prediction” methods. It’s barely any better than horoscopes, and just as accurate.